After a chest operation such as open heart surgery, a patient is normally bandaged with an absorbent material over an incision and wrapped with an elastic band or dressing of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,803 to Hyman or a stretchable chest dressing of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,741 to Farnio. Both the Hyman and Farnio patents are owned by a common assignee with this application and the disclosures of each are incorporated herein by reference.
Open heart surgery or other surgery where the chest cavity is opened involves making an incision over the sternum or breastbone beginning near the patient's throat and extending downwardly six to ten inches through skin and the pectoral muscles which are attached to the sternum. Next, the ligaments which hold the ribs to the sternum must be severed so that the ribs over the patient's heart can be pried back to expose the heart and lungs. The surgery is extremely painful and ribs, sternum and muscles must be adequately supported after surgery to allow the region to heal. The healing process may be complicated if the individual is obese or is a woman having large breasts. This is because the breasts or excess fatty tissue of a patient lying in a supine position tend to fall away from the center of the patient's chest and toward the patient's sides. This, in turn, stresses the sutures along the sternum and causes pain as the moving flesh pulls at the patient's injured ribs. Thus, recovery for such patients may be more painful and lengthy than it would if the breasts or breast tissue were immobilized.
In the past, rigid splints were used to provide support for chest tissue and, generally, to immobilize the chest area while an incision healed. Such splints caused breathing difficulties, were uncomfortable and therefore unacceptable. An improved dressing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,741 to Farnio and is designed to provide support for injured tissue on the side of a patient's body which is present after a mastectomy. Such dressings may be used after any type of chest surgery, but are not well suited for relieving the stress on incisions which result from open chest surgery and the like, because they do not adequately restrain the breasts and breast tissue. If applied exceptionally tightly in an attempt to reduce the mobility of the breast tissue, flesh tends to bunch beneath the patient's arms and the patient's breasts are uncomfortably flattened. This is uncomfortable and has been found unacceptable.
Furthermore, prior dressings of the type disclosed in Farnio generally utilize straps to hold the dressing in place. These dressings are often slightly cupped in the front to accommodate a breast or a cushioning layer of bandage over a post-mastectomy incision. These dressings thus resembled brasseries and are considered undesirable by male patients.